1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a dispenser for refrigerators that dispenses water or ice.
2. Background
In general, refrigerators can be classified into a normal refrigerator, a side-by-side type refrigerator, and a bottom freezer type refrigerator according to the structures of a freezer compartment and a fresh food compartment.
In the normal refrigerator, a freezer compartment is arranged at the upper side of the refrigerator and a fresh food compartment is disposed at the lower side of the refrigerator. In the side-by-side type refrigerator, the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment are laterally disposed adjacent to each other.
In the bottom freezer type refrigerator, which is recently in wide use in the US and Europe, a fresh food compartment larger than a freezer compartment is arranged at the upper side and the freezer compartment is arranged at the lower side.
The freezer compartment or fresh food compartment is opened and closed by a plurality of doors installed thereon.
To increase spatial efficiency and to facilitate a user's access compared to the case in which a dispenser to dispense water or ice is provided in a separate space at the exterior of a refrigerator, a dispenser is installed at the fresh food compartment door or freezer compartment door.
In conventional cases, a water dispense port for dispensing water is fixed to the upper surface of the dispenser. Accordingly, when water is supplied into a container seated at a lower position in the dispenser, the water may splash out of the container.
In addition, to prevent water from splashing out of the container, the container may need to be held by hand and positioned near the water dispense port until dispensing of water is completed.
Further, in conventional cases, the water dispense port and an ice discharge port for dispensing ice are laterally arranged. Thereby, the inner space of the dispenser may not be sufficient for a container occupying a wide area to be stably seated in the dispenser, and the limitation of the inner space may make it difficult for the user to manipulate a switch to operate the dispenser.
Moreover, a space needed to stably seat a container during dispensing of water is not separately provided. Accordingly, in the case that the user desires a large amount of water, the user may need to hold a container by hand for a long time in order to manipulate the switch.